Shanty Creek, a Great Northern Michigan Travel and Golf Hub

To many in Michigan, Shanty Creek Resort’s golf options are known as the ‘Phenomenal Five’ – a label that encompasses Shanty Creek’s Cedar River Golf Course design by Tom Weiskopf, The Legend (1986) by Arnold Palmer, the original Summit course, Schuss Mountain GC and the recent acquisition of nearby Hawk’s Eye, which has been in Shanty Creek’s portfolio since 2021.

All are based in the quaint town of Bellaire, Michigan, and are all within a five-mile radius.

The development of The Legend at roughly the same time Jack Nicklaus debuted The Bear at Grand Traverse Resort is widely agreed upon as the kick-start combo to the northern Michigan golf boom, following the very first, The Heather at Boyne Highlands, in the late 1960s.

“It is remarkable; it really started the trend up here,” said Shanty Creek’s PGA professional Steve Scheuermann. There are a lot of great courses in Michigan designed by some very famous golfers and architects, and that says a lot about our state. We do have the best golf courses in the country overall, I feel, and so many (of them), considering we’re a seasonal opportunity.

“For the longest time, it was my favorite golf course in Michigan,” Scheuermann said of The Legend. It’s very challenging. The greens are difficult if you’re on the wrong side of the hole. There are so many great, unique holes… 40 years later, the trees are pretty tall, so it’s much more difficult than it was.”

Lindsey Southwell, director of marketing at Shanty Creek and president of the local Chamber of Commerce, chimed in:

“If you’re a golfer, you know Shanty Creek is a golf destination,” said Lindsey Southwell about the four-season resort that’s also popular for skiing and other winter sports. “There are not many places in the state, let alone the nation, that have this concentration of golf courses in one location. I mean, 90 holes of championship courses in a five-mile radius. Cedar River and The Legend, an Arnold Palmer design – you can’t ask for two better designers in one location.”

Southwell is a former high school golfer and, nowadays, a mom. She really likes the wide variety of offerings that her family can participate in, including footgolf on occasion at The Summit.

“My family, with two young boys, it’s great for us,” she said of The Summit. “We have par 3 tees on every hole, so my sons really like that. They don’t have to play all the length, but Mom and Dad can join them and get in a good round.”

When asked what stands out about Shanty Creek’s five golf courses, Scheuermann replied: “They’re all unique in their own way, so they will appeal to many different people. When you ask anyone who walks in the door of the pro shop what their favorite is, you’ll get differing opinions, which I think is fantastic. Someone may love Cedar River, yet they still like one of the originals, the Shuss course, which is fantastic and always in excellent condition.”

Shanty Creek’s five courses being in great condition is not a stroke of luck but rather something that other multiple-course resorts might be wise to consider. With Shanty’s 90 holes, management made the decision a few years ago to close every course at least one day per week, sometimes two days, so the grass can rest and the superintendent’s crew can do their jobs without being underfoot of the golfers.

Every course is open on the weekends, but on weekdays, each 18-hole course shuts down for at least one day. Management has made this financial sacrifice to give golfers the best playing experience possible.

Many golfers consider Cedar River their resort favorite. I put it right up there as well, but I’ve enjoyed the others very much, too. Southwell commented that many people didn’t know that Hawk’s Eye was a stand-alone course before becoming part of the Shanty Creek collection.

“And it’s quickly becoming our second most popular course at the resort, and for very good reason,” she added. “It plays similarly to Cedar River. There’s a lot of challenge in the shots. There is water on nine of the 18 holes. It’s a good challenge, and I think it plays differently every time I play it, so that makes it a fun play.”

Cedar River at 25:

“It is my favorite, but they are all very close for different reasons,” Scheuermann said of Cedar River. “But it’s the one course I would play every single day and never get tired of it – and that’s not very normal for golfers, not typical. The way it’s laid out, the terrain, the woods, it’s a genius design.”

Cedar River has five par fives, five par 3s, and eight par fours.

“Par fours are the challenging holes for most golfers. So, even on a day that’s not so great, you can still shoot some good scores.”

Hole 5 at Cedar River is the No. 1 handicap hole.

“Absolutely the hardest hole on the golf course,” Scheuermann said. “You have to play it smart. You have to hit the fairway to start. The second shot tempts you to go for the green, especially when the pin is on the left side. Don’t do that. Hit it down the right side, and if you do it correctly, the ball will bounce left toward the green.

“Take your medicine, hope for a good pitch or chip, and maybe save par. But you don’t want to turn it into a harder hole. If the ball goes left, you’re going to hit a higher score. If you get a great drive and get over the hill and start going down the backside, you’ll get a lot of roll and can use an iron into the green. Go for it.”

Jack Ebling, a 3-time Michigan Broadcaster of the Year, shared his thoughts on Cedar River: “There are so many different ways to play this course. And talk about playability, that and memorability of it for visitors to Shanty Creek. If you’re a really top-notch player, a scratch golfer, and you want to go to the blacks, it’s 6980 (yards), and it will test you. Then the red tees are 5315, and there are a lot of options between those with the blue, the white, the silver, and some hybrid tees; so there are lots of different ways to play it.

Shanty Creek Getting off Course

With her ‘Chamber hat’ on, Southwell had many things to share about what friends and family can do before or after golf in the Bellaire/Chain of Lakes region. Shanty Creek Resort is anchored halfway between Pure Michigan tourism icons Sleeping Bears Dunes and Mackinaw Island.

“A lot of people come up to Bellaire just for Short’s Brewery,” she said. “It’s really transformed the town with a hot little nightlife in our village. We now have a distillery and lots of unique dining options and it’s become a really ‘happening village.’

“Outside the village, we have the chain of lakes, including Torch Lake, which we call the Caribbean of the North. Its Caribbean blue waters are unlike any other lake I’ve ever seen. It’s popular for very good reason.

“You cannot top the beauty of Torch Lake. It’s the setting for Kid Rock’s song ‘Summertime’ with the great sandbar attraction. The Chain of Lakes is 55 miles of lakes and waterways combined. They start up here by us and end at Lake Michigan in Elk Rapids. It provides all kinds of recreation. You want to do something on the water; we have it all.”

Antrim County, which Southwell said is the snowiest county each wintertime, is flooded with great trails for hiking, biking, and other non-water sports.

“When you think Northern Michigan, you think woods and water, and we have all that here,” Southwell concluded. It’s a real family destination, and we are very centrally located. It’s easy to make day trips to Traverse City, Cheboygan, or Petoskey. So, you can really get out and explore northern Michigan and see all the things you want to see.

“We like to say, ‘We’re more Traverse and less city.’”

For more information on golf at Shanty Creek, visit  shantycreek.com/golf

For more information on golf overall in the Great Lakes State of Michigan, go to  MIGolfJournal.com

Photos courtesy of MIGolfJournal.com